A spokesman said: ""We can confirm that all BBC sites, not just news, are blocked to users in China. We are not alone. It is the same for many other sites belonging to international news organisations. We are disappointed that our audiences in China are denied access to our impartial and editorially independent journalism."

Today's apparent censorship follows the blacking-out of reports on foreign media satellite feeds when Liu was named two months ago. Initial reports were blacked out on CNN, BBC and French satellite channel TV5, while the state network China Central Television did not report on the prize.

"The Nobel committee has to admit they are in the minority," foreign ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said today. "The Chinese people and the overwhelming majority of people in the world are against this. This is not an issue of human rights; it is an issue of interference of internal affairs."

Officials have repeatedly called 55-year-old Liu a "common criminal" and the claimed the award was the result of a western "plot" against China.

"Liu Xiaobo broke Article 105, a crime of instigating the subversion of state power," Jiang Yu added today. "He went beyond general criticism of the state."

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